The Survivor
by ana1231234
Summary: Before Fairy Sphere was activated on Tenroujima, Lucy's spirits sense that she's in danger and takes her to the Celestial Spirit World. Traumatized by the "death" of her nakama, she trains to become stronger and protect Fairy Tail in their absence.
1. Chapter 1

**Story: **The Survivor

**Summary: **Before Fairy Sphere was activated on Tenroujima, Lucy's spirits sense that she's in danger and takes her to the Celestial Spirit World. Traumatized by the "death" of her nakama, she trains to become stronger and protect Fairy Tail in their absence.

**Rating: **T

**Paring: **None as of yet. Future Nalu

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fairy Tail

**A/N: Hello my chickadees! Welcome to my second story! My first one is still in progress and is a Katekyo Hitman Reborn fic, feel free to read it if you want. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1:**

**On Tenrou:**

They never dreamt this would, or even could, happen. It started out normal. They were just competing in the S-class exam, but then Grimoire Heart attacked. But recently, a lot of things haven't been going to plan. So, as usual, they defeated their enemy and continued on home. But then the nightmare came. Never in their lives did they expect to encounter Acnologia, the proclaimed Dragon King. After attempting to fight him, they all joined hands hoping to join their magic and escape. Then everything went black for the members of Fairy Tail.

**With Lucy**

Lucy slowly became conscious and was confused. She didn't recognize her surroundings, and noticed from the material that she was in clothes from the spirit world. She looked around and noticed a window in the room. She walked to the window and looked out of it. She slowly backed away from the window and fell on the floor in shock. She wasn't on earth. The window gave the view of the place's sky, but it wasn't like any other sky she had ever seen before.

The sky was literally full of stars, some big some small, and had multiple asteroids with structures on them. The "earth" of the asteroids, and what she thought was the planet she was on, was in hues of purples and blues. She heard the door to the room she was in open and turned her head. Relief filled her when she saw the familiar figure of Virgo. She quickly got up and was crushed in a hug by her spirit.

"What's wrong Virgo?" she asked when she was released from the strong hug.

"We were worried for you, hime. We were worried that you were hurt."

"Why?" she asked slightly confused but she felt a sense of dread.

"Don't you remember what happened on Tenroujima? Sagittarius was able to come to us in time and we managed to save you before Acnologia was able to kill you."

Her eyes widened, the events from before filling her head. She looked at Virgo with slight desperation. "What happened to the rest? Are they here too?"

"Come on, hime. Leo wants to talk to you."

"Okay." She followed Virgo out the door and led her to another room which Leo was currently in.

The room was a very spacious room that had a huge pair of double doors that seemed as big as the Spirit King. In front of the doors pacing was Leo with sadness and worry etched on his face. He looked at them when he heard their footsteps. He immediately hugged Lucy in the same fashion as Virgo. She hugged them back and her eyes watered slightly. "Leo, where's everyone?"

"I'm so sorry Lucy." He said, his voice filled with grief and sadness. "We were only able to get you out in time. The force of the roar was too strong for most of us to handle and only Horologium was able to get you into him and bring you here to Celestial Spirit World in time before Acnologia destroyed the island." He held Lucy as she burst into tears.

After a few minutes she looked up to Leo, tears still streaming down her face. "How long have I been here?"

"In our time, a few days. But in Earth land time, it's only been a few minutes. The time runs differently between the two worlds. One day in Earth Land is the equivalent to about three months here. (**A/N: for this story the time difference is switched.) **News of Tenroujima hasn't reached your fellow guild mates yet. I'm sorry we couldn't save the rest on Tenrou Lucy. I wish we were able to." Leo said sadly.

Lucy looked at Leo and shook her head. "It's not your or anyone else's fault. Thanks to you and everyone else, I'm still alive." She said the last part with a heavy voice and more tears streamed down her face before more sobs shook her body and she clutched Leo in a hug again.

Leo held Lucy till her sobs somewhat calmed down. He lifted her head to look at him. "Lucy the Celestial Spirit King wants to talk to you. I don't know what for, but he's been waiting for you."

She wiped her eyes and nodded. Leo led her to the huge doors that she saw earlier and led her inside them. Beyond the doors was a huge throne room which had a huge throne that held the Celestial Spirit King.

"Thank you for bringing her Leo. You may leave now." He told Leo. Leo nodded and left the room.

It was now just the Celestial Spirit King and Lucy and the room. She looked at the king and the king studied her for a few moments. After he studied her, he got up from his throne and shrunk in size. She now came up to his chest instead of looking like an ant compared to him. He approached her and she felt his arms bring her in a warm hug. "I'm sorry for your loss." He told her. More tears streamed down her face as she started to cry again. His hug reminded her of the way her father used to before her mother died, it made her feel safe and warm. He soon pulled away from his hug and looked at her. "I'm sorry if this is too soon for you but I wanted to give you a proposition." She nodded her head to continue. "I haven't given this chance to a Celestial mage in hundreds of years, but I believe you deserve this opportunity. Unlike recent Celestial mages, you genuinely care for your spirits and don't use them as weapons or tools. Not only that but you also saved my leader of the Zodiacs, and for that I give you the opportunity to get trained here in the Celestial Spirit World in the ancient arts of Celestial magic. Unlike most people think, Celestial magic has been around on Earth Land for several millenniums and there is a lot more to it then the keys that are only used today. However I must warn you, this will have effects on your body."

"What kind of effects?" she asked.

"Due to the high concentration of Celestial magic in our world, your body will change to adapt to it. Former mages who have had this training had their magic increase exponentially, and have slowly stopped aging here like the spirits who live here. You will also be able to access the dormant Celestial magic on Earth Land causing you to age slower than your fellow humans on Earth Land."

"Is there anything else that would come from this training?"

"When you complete the training, you will only be able to use Celestial magic. You will not be able to use any other form of magic, which is why we teach you how to access Earth Lands Celestial magic. There is one other thing, but I can only tell you at the end and if you're chosen."

Lucy started to think about this. She wasn't sure if she wanted to stop aging, but if she does it, then she can get stronger and protect her remaining and future nakama. She also knew this was a once in a life time chance, and as he said to her, it hasn't happened to anyone else in hundreds of years.

"I'll do it." She said with conviction.

The Celestial Spirit King smiled. "We'll start your training tomorrow."

**20 days later Earth Land Time (5 years in Celestial Spirit World time)**

Fairy Tail was falling apart. All of their time, effort and money went into looking for their missing members. The less serious members who joined just to get good jobs quit as all of their money went into the search. The more serious members were almost out of money to fund the searches and were asking the council to fund their searches instead. They also were going to be in debt by the time the guilds mortgage payment was due. Their moral was at an all-time low and their guild hall just brought more pain than solace. Macao, who was acting as temporary guild master, was doing all he can to keep the guild together and still search for the missing members.

It was 20 days after they announced the destruction of Tenroujima that someone walked into their guild. There were very few people in the guild. Out of the members who remained more than half were on another expedition to search for the missing island. They never looked up from their positions, thinking that it was their fellow members coming back from yet another failed search. Macao was sitting at the bar where people now served themselves and was working on all the required paperwork from the Magic Council. Macao was focused on his paperwork until someone tapped his shoulder. He turned to address the person trying to talk to him and choked.

"I'm home." Lucy said in a small voice.

"LUCY!" Macao screamed and tackled Lucy.

The rest of the guild looked up in hope. They repeated the actions of Macao and joined the group hug. Lucy smiled at her guild mates when they finally freed her from their hug. Her training had changed her appearance some. Her hair was now to her waist, her eyes now held a certain vibrancy that they hadn't before, and she was now lean instead of just skinny. Her body also held some kind of foreign aura that they couldn't place, but she still somehow looks like the Lucy that left to Tenroujima almost a month ago.

"Lucy! Where have you been? Where are the others? Why do you look so different? What happened on Tenroujima?" various members questioned her at the same time.

"Calm down, I'll tell you what happened when the rest of the members come back from the search. I want to tell you all when everyone is here. What happened here?" she asked when she started to look around the dirty guild.

It was Macao who answered her question. "Ever since you guys disappeared we've been frantically searching for Tenroujima or any sign of where you might be. We've putting all of our resources into the search and some members were fed up of us using their mission money on the search and quit. We've been losing money and more members." He said with a sad voice. "But Lucy, please just tell me this. Are the others okay?"

She looked at him with a somber face. "I'm sorry Macao."

**Two days later. **

"We're back." Came the disappointed voices of the search party.

"Welcome back." Said a voice familiar to them.

The group looked up in shock. "Lucy!" like two days previously, the group tackled the blond in a group hug.

"Alright! Alright! Calm down, Lucy now that they are back, can you tell us what happened?" Macao asked her.

She took a deep breath. "During the S-class exams the dark guild, Grimorie Heart attacked us. We were able to defeat them and decided to head back home. But before we left Acnologia attacked us. We tried fighting back but we lost. As a last attempt to survive, we joined hands trying to summon any defensive magic and return home, and after that it was all black. I woke up in the Celestial Spirit World and it turned out that Sagittarius told the others what was happening. They tried to save the others but they only managed to save me because of Horologium. The Celestial Spirit King offered me training in Celestial magic and I accepted. The time there is different than Earth Land so to me it's been 5 years instead of twenty."

The guild was quiet until Macao asked her another question. "What do plan on doing now?"

"I'm going to take the Council's S-class exam so I can do the stronger missions."

"Lucy you know if you pass you become the guild master through rank, right?" Macao asked. He didn't want the position, but he also felt that she was too young to be under that stress.

"I know, but I want to." She said. "Plus, I already sent in my request yesterday."

"What!? But you just got here! They probably don't even know you returned yet!" Wakaba exclaimed.

"I know, I did it because they would accept it faster than if they knew I was back."

"How long would it take you to do them?" Romeo asked.

"It depends on the person." Lucy said.

"Good luck then Lucy. Make Fairy Tail proud." Macao said to her.

**Three days later. **

The guild members of Fairy Tail had given up on the searches after Lucy returned from the Celestial Spirit world and was working on the status of the guild. Lucy and Macao met with all of the members individually to see who was completely loyal to the guild. Whoever was not was removed from the guild. With Lucy back and her knowledge on how to run businesses, she was helping with fixing the guild's financial issues.

Four days after Lucy sent in the S-class request, officials from the Magic Council came to the guild. Lucy was in the master's office, working with Macao when a guild member barged in the office. "Lucy, officials from the Magic Council are here to see you."

"Okay I'll be right down." She got up from her chair and walked down to the guild hall. She saw uniforms from the Magic Council. "Hello, how can I help you?" she asked pleasantly.

"Lucy Heartfilia. You are being summoned by the Magic Council. You are to come with us." The told her.

She nodded to them and looked back at Macao and Wakaba who were behind her. "Told you. See you later." They waved goodbye as she left the guild.

**A/N: and that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments or questions feel free to review! Till next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Story:** The Survivor

**Summary:** Before Fairy Sphere was activated on Tenroujima, Lucy's spirits sense that she's in danger and takes her to the Celestial Spirit World. Traumatized by the "death" of her nakama, she trains to become stronger and protect Fairy Tail in their absence.

**Rating:** T

**Paring:** None as of yet. Future Nalu

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Fairy Tail

**A/N: Hello my lovely chickadees. After I finished the first chapter yesterday, I've been wanting to continue writing it. Also I didn't think people would like this story so much! 2 hours passes and I already had 10 follows! I had to put my phone on silent because of all the notices I was getting! It made my day! So thank you all for liking my story! Here's the next chapter!**

**Chapter 2:**

Within a few hours, Lucy and the other council members arrived at the HQ for the Magic Council. She was escorted into the building and was led to the trial room for her audience. She was led to stand on a pedestal and looked up at the council leaders. As she studied the men, she noticed an old man smiling at her, and smiled back. The chairman cleared his throat.

"Lucy Heartfilia. We have received your request and application for our S-class exam, however we were not noted of your return from Tenroujima. Tell us, where are your fellow guild mates and master?" The chairman demanded.

She gave them a saddened expression. "My former master and guild mates were unable to survive the attack. It was only through my spirits that I was able to survive." She informed them.

"I'm sorry to hear that." The old man who smiled at her said.

"Now tell us, why do you think we should let you take the S-class exam when only about a month ago you weren't even a candidate." Another member said.

She smirked at the council. "For you it had been that time, but for me it had been five years since then." The council expressions grew curios and motioned to continue. "As you know, I am a Celestial Spirit Mage, and I was chosen by the Celestial Spirit King to be trained by the spirits of his world."

They looked at her with shock. "Impossible! That hasn't happened for hundreds of years! And if you did, then why can't we feel you're magic? History has recorded that past mages who were in your position contained so much magic that you could feel their presence!" Another council member exclaimed.

"I have learned how to suppress my power through my advanced training. Unlike the others that have been recorded, I was chosen to go even further in my training. And before you ask it is forbidden to speak of my training to those not permitted to. It is because of this that I want to help my guild by being able to take harder missions."

The council was silent for a moment. "Okay we will allow you to take the exam, but under other circumstances. You will battle our strongest mages and based on how you fair, you will be promoted to S-class or even Saint if you qualify. But just as a reminder, if reach to the level of wizard saint, you will be required to handle highly ranked missions given to you directly by us. If you refuse, we will strip your rank of S-class."

She glared at them. "Why?"

"Remember girl, you are getting the rank from us. We can take it and give it as we please. If you getting it from your guild, the master would have this responsibility, but as you already know, your guild doesn't have an official master yet, which is probably also why you came to increase your rank, to become master."

Lucy looked at them passively. She knew this would likely happen. But she knew what she was getting herself into. The council wanted to keep her on a leach because she was now one of the most powerful mage's, and they knew it too. She was glad they didn't know of her advanced training, because if they found out, she didn't know what they would try to do to keep her loyal to only them and not Fairy Tail. She planned to keep that a secret as long as she can, and never let them find out. She nodded her head in agreement and was led to another part of the building.

**2 weeks later.**

Lucy walked into her guild with a smile on her face. The others greeted her and congratulated her when they saw her newly acquired pin on the shirt she was wearing. She was now a wizard saint and master of Fairy Tail. She came home the night before when only Macao was left in the guild, still working on paperwork. He was the first to heat the news and slightly he didn't have the responsibility of guild master anymore.

She told the guild of her promotion and how she got was tested to get her rank. They were excited that she was able to get the rank of saint like the previous master, but slightly disappointed when she wasn't a loud to tell them her rank until it was officially announced by the council. It was when she was talking about how she had to go on a mission in a few months that Max noticed something.

"Hey Lucy where's your keys?" he asked.

She smiled. "Someone finally noticed. Due to my training I no longer need keys to summon spirits. I still have them in case I get an apprentice, but now they kept safe with Leo in the spirit world."

"Cool! Can you summon one?" Droy asked her. She nodded to them.

"**Open gate of the Lion. I summon thee, Leo."** She said. The others looked at her in confusion, they didn't understand what she was saying. A few seconds later, the familiar form of Leo appeared in a gold light. Her fellow guild mates stared at Leo. He looked the same, yet different too. His hair was a slightly darker shade and a little more wild then it used to, his body seemed a little more fit, and there was a soft glow from his body that wasn't there before.

"Lucy, I see you're back at the guild." Leo smiled to her. He looked at the other guild members. "Yo, how has everyone been?" he waved to the others.

"Loki, you look…" Jet tried to explain motioning to his body. "Shiny."

Leo gave him a looked at him with a deadpan expression. "Yeah, when spirits are summoned in their original language and summon, they return in their original forms. This is mine, as you see I don't change much, but you should see some of the others."

"Original language?" someone questioned.

"Yes" Lucy looked at Leo, he nodded. "I had to learn their language and several other ancient languages in order to be able to summon them to their fullest potential. As time passed from the beginning of the pact between humans and spirits, the bond between them strained as they began to lose trust in each other. This caused spirits to weaken and at certain points in time, only certain parts of their power peaked, and others weakened. So if there was a situation where only one of their powers are needed, I can summon them to where only that particular power is peaked. But since I was able to learn their language and the ancient language where the pact was made, I'm able summon them from when they were most powerful."

"Wow… can you only summon the spirits you have the keys for?" Laki asked.

"No, I can summon any spirit I know. I lived in the Spirit world for years so I can summon a lot of spirits." She replied.

Leo brought out his mini "I love Lucy" flag and commented "Isn't my summoner the best."

**7 years later, the time Tenroujima returns. **

In the hillside of Magnolia was a small tavern that bore the symbol of Fairy Tail. Throughout the years, Lucy had finished multiple jobs for the Magic Council and was able to pay off and own the original guild hall, however it was decided to move into this small tavern for various reasons. The first was that the number of guild members has only increased by one since Macao and Lucy removed the unserious guild members, so she felt there was no need to have such a big guild hall for their now small guild. The second was that she wanted Fairy Tail to have a second location incase anything happened to the guild hall like with what happened with Phantom Lord. And finally, the guild hall held a lot of memories and some of the members couldn't be in the hall without getting sad, so the second location helped them deal with the absence of the other members.

The inside this tavern was some members of Fairy Tail sitting down having a drink. On one table was Jet, Droy, and Max talking about their most recent missions. On another was Laki, Kiana, and Bisca talking about the newest fashions in style. Reedus was in the corner painting. Nab was by the mission board like always with Vijeeter near him. On the table next to the girls was two kids, one was Romeo reading a book, and sitting across from them was a little girl by the name of Stella, who was drawing pictures with crayons. And lastly, sitting in the table closest to the bar was Wakaba and Macao who were talking about Twilight Ogre, who wouldn't stop bothering them about buying their original guild hall. The only two members who were on missions was Warren and Lucy.

Lucy was on, yet another mission for the Magic Council. The Council soon found out that Lucy had good diplomatic skills and would give her missions that were in other countries. These missions could take 2 weeks to 4 months depending on the country. She left the previous week to the kingdom of Pergrande. She told them that this mission could take up to four months and left her adopted daughter, Stella, in their care. Lucy saved Stella two years previously on one of her missions in Bosco. Bosco was a country known for slavery, and Stella was running from slave traders when Lucy found and saved her. After Lucy saved her, she stuck to Lucy like duckling would to their mother. Lucy soon fell in love with the then four year old and adopted her. Because Lucy has long missions, she gave her old keys to her so if incase she's in danger, she could grab Leo's key and her would come and help her.

Stella was a sweet little girl once you got to know her. But because of her trauma with the slave trade, she doesn't trust anyone until her mother says she could. When she meets new people, she would refuse to talk to them and just hide behind one of the other guild members or friends of her mother. If you managed to get her to talk with out her trust, she would be rude and most likely insult you. However, if she trusts you, she was the sweetest little thing there was. She was now the age of six and has been enjoying her new life with Lucy and Fairy Tail these past four years.

The guild members were calmly chatting when they heard a noise outside their guild. The members stood up and walked outside the guild to see who their visitors are. When they walked outside they were greeted by the Blue Pegasus's ship, Christina. Over the years, Lucy has managed to maintain Fairy Tails relationship with other guilds and managed to gain the respect of the current strongest guild, Sabertooth. Their relationship with the new strongest guild was a rocky one. They only respected their master, Lucy, because of her strength and knowledge. Apparently, one of the requirements of her training was to learn all of the history of Earth Land and was able to help the guild learn more about the physical consequences of being a dragon slayer. Even though they respected Lucy, they thought nothing of the other members, and only treated Stella with some kindness because she was Lucy's daughter.

They waited for the members to disembark their vessel and land on the ground. Stella giggled when she saw Ichiya fall off Christina. She also ran and hugged Hibiki, who was still a good friend of Hibiki. They waited for the men to finish some of their little bit that they do with all girls and asked what everyone was curious about.

"What are you guys doing here?" Macao asked.

"We came here with some news. Since we were able to fix Christina, I have been using it to study the different levels of magic in various locations across the country and sea. On one of our expeditions in the sea I noticed an increase in magic one certain location." Hibiki told them.

"What do you mean?" Wakaba asked cautiously, not wanting to misinterpret anything.

"What we mean is that Tenroujima still exists, men. Where's your master?" Ichiya asked.

"Mommy is on a mission." Stella told them.

"What time will she return?" Hibiki asked, knowing her missions could take a long time.

"She said the earliest she could come is until the end of the Grand Magic Games, and that's if the mission ended early. Her lacrima only works until she reaches the country of Stella and she's in Pergrande." Macao told them. "But she left me in charge until she gets back. I'll send some members to check out the location."

"Good luck, men."

**With Fairy Tail a few hours later. **

"Man, I can't believe after all these years, they finally show up." Wakaba commented

"But that doesn't mean they're still alive." Romeo said.

"Romeo!" Macao exclaimed.

"Who's coming back?" Stella asked, pulling on Macao's pants to get his attention.

"Old nakama, Stella." Macao told her gently.

"So their good people?" she tilted her head.

"Yes sweetie, one even used to be your mom's best friend. Do you remember from the stories?"

Her eyes widened a little bit. "Yeah! His name was Natsu, right?"

"Ye-"before he could answer the doors to the tavern crashed open.

"I thought we told you we weren't going to sell you anything!" Macao yelled at the Twilight Ogre mages who barged into the tavern.

"Yeah but master got tired of waiting and decided to take it by force with your precious master gone." The leader said. The mages were about to start a fight when the leader of the group was suddenly kicked forward and crashed against the wall before the other members were knocked out.

The members who stayed behind looked at the entrance with tears as they saw their no longer missing nakama.

"We're home!" Natsu said happily.

"Sorry it took so long!" Happy said.

"What's with this small guild?" they heard Makarov comment.

"What happened?" Vijeeter asked them.

They soon explained what happened on Tenroujima and Natsu asked a question that had been on his mind. "Where's Lucy? Jet said she managed to escape."

"A lot has changed in seven years Natsu. She's on a mission in Pergrande for the Magic Council." Macao said.

Makarov's and the S-class mage's eyes widened. "What is she doing there?" Makarov asked.

"Since you guys were gone, and she returned from her training, she's been promoted to Wizard Saint." The Tenroujima group were shocked.

Natsu felt something pulling on his pants and looked down to see a little girl with white hair and purple eyes. "Are you mommy's old friends?" the little girl asked.

Natsu looked at her in confusion. "Who are you?"

"Stella Heartfilia." She said.

**A/N: Here's the next chapter! I actually really enjoy writing this story. I'm actually going to start writing the next chapter after I post this. Sadly, Lucy's not going to show up for a few more chapters. But as said she's on a long mission. Till next chapter my chickadees!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Story: **The Survivor

**Summary: **Before Fairy Sphere was activated on Tenroujima, Lucy's spirits sense that she's in danger and takes her to the Celestial Spirit World. Traumatized by the "death" of her nakama, she trains to become stronger and protect Fairy Tail in their absence.

**Rating: **T

**Paring: **None as of yet. Future Nalu

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fairy Tail

**A/N: Hello my chickadees! Are you ready for the next installment?! I am so sorry for the late update. I usually try to every Saturday and I just haven't had the time. I've been quite the busy bee. Any way I'm sorry for the wait but here's the story.**

**Chapter 3**

Natsu felt warm. He could see nothing, yet his other senses were more heightened then they already were. He could feel the softness on the surface below him and feel the warmth that protruded from his body and was trapped by the blanket that covered him. He heard the silence of his house, and the small, barely audible sound of Happy's breathing. He knew he should be up by now, but he didn't want to move. It was in this bed, the bed that she left for him, that he could smell her scent. Lucy's scent.

Just like she had in the pass, she cleaned his house for him, and even left the bed that he would always sneak into for him to use. He could tell she would come to his little come on the outskirts of Magnolia from the reminiscence of her sent filling the room. It calmed him. But it also left him melancholy. He missed her dearly. She was his partner, and fellow member of Team Natsu. He could tell that the others had missed her also.

It has been about a week since they had returned, and their world was no longer the same. The others were older and a little more matured. Alzack and Bisca, from what he found out, had gotten married (not that the others were surprised with that) and had a daughter named Asuka. It turned out that she was the best friend of Stella. Stella. Lucy's adopted daughter. This surprised him the most. He knew for her it's been years, but for him it's only been days since he's last seen her face, crying asking if that was their end as Acnologia approached them. He wanted to see her. He already missed her. But she wasn't expected to be back for at least another 3 months.

In three months was the Grand Magic Games. The games they were going to go train for in the next following few days at some beach. They had become weak, or in technical terms, the others had become stronger in their absence. They had to. He had to use Lightning Flame Dragon Mode to beat Max. It was embarrassing. So they decided to train harder than they ever had so they can reclaim their old title with pride. He would do that for Fairy Tail and her, since she could do it herself for being a master.

That's another thing he never really expected. Lucy was a master and a wizard saint. She had to endure so much in their absence because they weren't there for her or the guild. He felt guilty. He was supposed to be her _partner. _They were supposed to experience all those missions together, be there to help one another get stronger, _and he wasn't_. It was one of the things he hated the most about this "new world". He wasn't there to see her become what she is today. The thing he hated the most was that she probably didn't even know they were back home and still alive. Her mission was very far away and it exceeded the distance a lacrima could cover. So he decided it was his turn to wait for her, like she unknowingly did for all those years. And he would get stronger for both his guild and her.

**1 week before the GMG.**

Ultear, Jellal, and Carla watched as the members endured the excruciating procedure. Releasing their second origin was no small matter. It was a very painful procedure for the victim. They watched for a few more moments before leaving them in the care of Erza, whom decided to not go through what her nakama decided to do. She watched them as they all arched in pain. She too soon left the hut, she still needed to train more.

**At the GMG**

Bisca led her family, Stella, Levy, Jet, Droy, and Makarov to the inn where their guild always stayed during these games. Lucy got along well with the matron of the inn and they agreed to always book there in return of a discount. They walked down the festive street and approached the small, yet homey inn that was located near various townhouses. They entered the small establishment and approached he matron who was sitting behind a small check-in counter.

"Ah, Bisca dearie. How have you been?" the old lady greeted.

"Good, can we book our usual rooms?" Bisca asked.

"Ah yes. Lucy has already booked in for you. She told me to tell you to meet her at the registration office. She needs to know who's participating before she turns in the paper work." She lady smiled at her.

"Lucy's here?" she asked back in shock.

"Yes, she arrived about an hour ago. For being such a strong mage, she sure knows how to hide her presence huh? Well I let you be." She handed them the room keys. "It's time for my lunch. The matron left them in the lobby of the inn.

Bisca turned to the others. "Go to the rooms and I'll go get her. She's probably already on her way back. We already turned in the paper work a week ago." Bisca told them as she left the inn.

**With Lucy.**

Lucy was admiring the festivity of the city as she walked back to the inn. She didn't expect the paper work to already be done, but then again they weren't expecting her for at least a few more days. She was excited to see her daughter again. She got her and little Asuka a gift while she was on her mission. She was turning onto the street of the inn when she ran into a familiar person.

"Bisca. Surprise! I got back in time." She said silently.

"Lucy, welcome back. Come on back to the inn, we need to tell you something." Bisca told her with a serious face.

Lucy nodded silently before following her green haired friend. Bisca led her into the inn and into the room that held multiple beds to house the females. During this event, she would usually stay in a separate room from the others with Stella, but only to sleep. She enjoyed being with the others in their room just talking until Stella fell asleep. She walked into the familiar room and laid eyes on a person she thought she would never see again. Her eyes watered and she covered her mouth with her hand before slowly approaching the blue haired girl.

"L-l-levy?" she stuttered in disbelief.

"Lu-chan." She responded quietly.

Lucy pulled her old friend into a bone crushing hug, sobbing into her shoulder. She felt so happy and relieved. She was okay. She was _alive. _

"H-how in the world?" she questioned her.

"We never died Lu-chan. We were in a spell called Fairy Sphere that saved us. We were released a few months ago while you left on your mission."

"What about the others?" she asked her hopefully.

"There okay too Lu-chan. I'm sorry we weren't there for you." Levy told her.

She started to cry in joy again.

**With Natsu and the others a few hours later.**

The training group from the beach were trying to find the small inn that they were staying in. They walked down the street looking around their capital city, ignoring Gray striping while walking beside them. Natsu was walking with an excited smile on his face, eager to begin the competition. It was when he smelt it that he froze. The others stopped in confusion at his sudden halt. He sniffed the air. It was her. She was here. He broke out into a run, following the scent's trail. The others followed him, trying to question the unresponsive mage.

He ran into the building where her scent was stronger and continued to follow it as it became more potent. He ran up the stairs and into a hall way before reaching a door where he smelled the trail end. He twisted the door knob to find it locked. He banged on the door and heard a small voice inside.

"Who is it mommy?" He heard Stella ask someone.

"I don't know." His heart raced as he heard the footsteps approach the door.

He heard the door open before he flung himself into the body that opened the door, drinking in the comforting scent that he loved and missed these past few months. He heard her gasp as he hugged her. She almost fell, not expecting the person at the door to practically tackle her, but he caught her and himself before they were able to fall. She was about to fight back before she recognized the familiar warm person hugging her. She always remembered the warmth her best friends' body released due to his magic. She faintly remembered the scent of ashes, fire, and musk that clung to his body. She remembered how she always felt safe when she was in his arms.

She felt her tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She clung on to his shirt with one hand while the other wrapped around his waist. She tried to stop herself from crying, but her effort was futile when he heard him speak and felt him hug her harder.

"Lucy…I'm so sorry." She heard him whisper hoarsely into her ear.

She wrapped both of her arms round him and clung into the hug, feeling that he would disappear if she released him. Her tears fell full force from her eyes and she buried her face into his shoulder. "Natsu." She sobbed into his shoulder. Stella watched with curious eyes as her mother desperately hugged the pink haired mage. She had a feeling she's going to see more of him in the future.

**A/N I know it's a shortish chapter, but I felt this was a good place to stop for the next chapter. For any of you who follow my other story too, I'll try to update that tomorrow if I have the chance. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.**


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